


Until I Crash

by Podfix (CharlieConsby)



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25736437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieConsby/pseuds/Podfix
Summary: You could say it all started when I stole the most expensive item in the Sima System, got trapped in a parallel universe, and uncovered a plot to suck the life out of our home. When I realised that time machines were banned for a reason, and that you can never be as clever as the person you most fear.〄You could say it all started when Haajarahcrashed through my ceiling, read my mind illegally, and told me that I was needed to save a place I had never heard of.  When I realised that time travel was more than an urban myth, and that there were parallel universes where I didn't even exist.〄You could say it all started when I kidnapped a stranger, let her see the universe, and accidentally fell in love. When I realised that I couldn't keep seeing everything in black and white, and that sometimes your friends are more deadly than your enemies.〄This is the story of the girl who radiated joy, another who could never make the right decisions, and a genius with everything to fear.THIS BOOK IS ON HOLD FOR NOW as binge watching doctor who is such a priority
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. KAI- I love it when everyone thinks that you’re dead.

The guard was looking at me as if I was some sort of alien. To be fair, I was, but I was trying not to let it show. This planet was the only place where you could buy a fluid link without someone arresting you because, well you could buy a lot worse here. Time machines were made illegal after the Spitzen Incident, although what we needed it for was definitely worth the risk.

"You all right mate?" The guard was now looking at me with concern and I shook myself out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm good." It was quite a long time since I had practiced my Sulirian accent and I hoped that he didn't suspect anything. "I've got a pass if you were wondering, it's only valid for today so I'd like to make this quick." I was lying, of course, but the polygraphs of this planet only worked if you were registered in Silurian's Database. 

I flashed the expired pass that I won in a game of Screwcards two years ago too quick for the guard to actually read, and the unique sounds and smells of Newton Market engulfed me as I strode through the smashed glass doors. Stallholders yelled at me from their booths in a range of accents, trying to sway me into buying everything and anything.

"Silurian's finest krillberries! Freshly picked yesterday!" A seller was shouting so loudly from where he sat under the bright red canopy that I thought that my eardrums had a high chance of exploding.

"Authentic Pluto Silks! Special price for you young lady!" I glared at the seller and he faltered.

"Only fifteen Credits!"

"Ten Credits!"

"Five Credits a bunch!"

What I was really looking for was the mechanical parts trader, as they owed me a favour from when I had found them a working Screen. Knowing them, they would probably be hidden down an alleyway somewhere, only letting premium customers in. Not to worry, I was easily on that list.

The pungent smell of week-old krillberries smacked me in the face as I ventured down the last alleyway of the afternoon. After being chased by a local shop owner and getting tangled in the 'finest Pluto silks', I was hoping to find Rae tody. If I didn't get back soon I was pretty sure that Haajarah would go mad with only Gershwin for company. I had been gone for around two weeks, but I hoped that they hadn't managed to kill each other, yet.

The end of the side street looked like it was going to be a dead end, but just as I was turning back somebody grabbed me by the hood of my jumper and almost slammed me against the wall. Although slightly disoriented, I could see it was Rae.

"What was that for? Ow." Twisting out of their grip I glared at them and rubbed the new lump on the back of my head. 

"Kaya! I thought you were dead!"

"What? And it's Kai."

"Right, nice." They muttered distractedly as they fumbled around in their pockets for a key with far too many keyrings attached and unlocked a door that I hadn't noticed because it was camouflaged by a large gang tag sprayed on with holographic paint.

"Don't worry about that," they said, "Flies got them all weeks ago. Anyways, what are you here for then?" They then interrupted me before I could open my mouth. "Wait, sorry, we'll talk inside, 'camera's just turned on." I couldn't see anything but Rae had been living in the city for a lot longer than I ever had. 

We were now in the slightly dingy main room of the house. Rae had managed to pile up numerous spare parts and forgotten inventions over time so that they reached the ceiling in several places. They loomed over us as I found a half–empty gas canister to sit on and Rae perched on what was left of the mantelpiece. The single unprotected bulb flickered dangerously on the brink of sputtering out all together as I took in the faded cyberanime posters on the walls.

"Rae, um, when was the last time you cleaned this place?"

"Hmm? I dunno, been too busy keeping the Flies away. They got a new upgrade a few weeks ago actually, enhances their camouflage so they can look like anyone in the Database. I've been trying to hack it for ages, thought you were one. Sorry."

"But I'm not in the Database."

"Mm, pretty sure you are. That Screen you gave me was registered under you so you're in it, even if they don't know much about you."

Great. I had been outwitted by the tech that ran the Sima System again.

"Anyways, you still sell links?" Rae looked up from where they were prodding a circuit board experimentally and began to rummage around in one of their toolboxes, eventually disentangling a small spherical shape wrapped in cotton wool from where it had been merged with a piece of black wire.

"I'm guessing you want a fluid one, yeah? Still trying to build that time machine, aren't you."

It was starting to get darker outside - the bulb hanging from the ceiling was starting to give off more light. Whenever the sun showed the slightest hint of going down, every light in Siluria boosted its output. It sounded like a good thing, but most of the time they were so bright you could hardly see at all.

"Okay, I've got it. Be careful though, it's really delicate. Whatever you do, don't drop it. Oh, and you're paying for the next one 'cos this cost me two of my posters."

I could tell as the cotton wool was probably more expensive than the Link.

Shutting the door behind me I let my vision adjust to the artificially brightened surroundings and began to jog back to the market. I needed to buy some sort of protective casing for the link — if it broke my time machine would never leave Spitzen. 

There was a rapidly growing queue in front of the case trader, so I slipped in behind a man who was about halfway down and wondered if I had anything of Credit. In Siluria they traded in items of emotional value, so I took off one of the badges that Haajarah had given me 'just because' last year. 

With nothing to do I checked that the fluid link was still in my pocket and turned around to strike up a conversation with the person behind me. It was Rae.

"Oh hiya, did I forget something?"

Rae just stared at me blankly before grabbing my arm with an inhuman grip.

They began to speak with a robotic sounding monotone.

"I am a part of the Frank Landon International Escort Service. You have been requested at the Centre for questioning."

"But — what for?"

"Illegal entry into the city."

Seeing as I was in the Database, they must if known that I was lying the moment I had walked through the doors of the market earlier today. They must have waited until they had enough evidence to show that I was trying to build a time machine, and whilst illegal entry into the city was enough to get you a hefty fine, making a time machine from scratch for personal use was enough to get me a death sentence. I needed to get rid of the fluid link, fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> Could you comment the parts that you gasped/laughed/threw your laptop across the room?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> \- charlie


	2. NTHANDA- Teleports are overrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, ignore the ending please

Procrastination saved my life. The code for the new FLIES update was due tomorrow and I had still only typed ten lines. The Screen was perched atop a pile of textbooks that I still needed to get round to selling and I was flopped on the sofa scrolling through BuzzFeed on my iGlasses - apparently they had discovered a cursed cave in Mivakia. It was so unbearably quiet that I could hear the holos cleaning the street below. I know that we were privileged to have them at all but their waste energy wasn't helping the heat. My shirt was sticking to me like sellotape and my hair had mutated into a sticky blob as I had given up trying to repair the air conditioning when I had set the fire alarm off twice in a week. I may have been good with computers but DIY was really not my thing.

The neighbours upstairs had started shouting again. They seemed to be arguing about Spitzen, one of the most radioactive places in the Sima System thanks to a foolish time-traveler. I couldn't catch much as the ceiling was too thick to eavesdrop properly but they seemed to enjoy yelling at each other as the break between arguments had only been around half an hour this time.

All at once there was an ear-splitting scream, a massive crash, and my ceiling had a new hole in it. As a bonus, my iGlasses had also started to beep in the way that meant someone was calling me. I could hear the neighbours now.

A person had had managed to smash through all four stories of my tower block and completely obliterate my (brand new) table. If I at been sitting at the table, actually doing some work, then the glass from my Screen would've flown up and stabbed me, and I would be dead. Relived that my death was saved for another day, I hefted the heaviest book I owned and approached the wreckage.

Lying in a heap of splinters was a woman with groups of tiny scars on the side of her head that was facing me. Her clothes had been torn by the fall, but luckily none of her hair had escaped her hijab.

My iGlasses stopped ringing and flashed a missed call notification in my peripheral vision. I fumbled to call them back.

"Hello?" The person on the other end of the line was incredibly over enthusiastic.

"We got him! We got him!"

"Got who?"

"Kai Avinci was arrested yesterday for illegal entry into Siluria, but, but, we confiscated a fluid link from him so we know he's still trying to build a time machine." I had never told anyone but I had always been slightly jealous. After all, I'd had a degree in Physics before the FLIES came, and if I had a time machine I could've stopped what happened to her.

"Anyways, we need you to make sure it's him. Can you come in? You can bring the code with you."

"Um."

I glanced around at the smashed Screen and the I'm-hoping-it-wasn't-dead-body and hung up. 

The woman on the floor was beginning to stir so I sat back down on the sofa and waited for something to happen.

My wish was granted almost immediately when she jumped to her feet and I found myself in the most vicious headlock I ever had the misfortune to be in. 

Readjusting her grip, she spoke in an accent that definitely wasn't from the city.

"You trust me?"

"No?"

"Bad luck. Let's go."

I hadn't noticed the teleport on her wrist and it took me forever to stop retching when we landed. Then again, that's teleportation for you, definitely not what it's cracked up to be. I glared at her.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Look out the window."

We were in a flat that was quite similar to mine if you ignored the fact that it only had two walls. The scenery was completely different from what I was used to. Instead of soaring Scrapers and flashing adverts, several buildings had been beheaded, leaving rotting skeletons of Obdilite behind. The city itself seemed to be giving off a slight vibration, as if there were holos still connected to the Centre. I knew exactly where we were and whirled around.

"This is Spitzen. The most radioactive place in the Sima System!"

She raised an eyebrow at me and gestured for me to sit on a chair of rotting plastic. I obeyed simply because I had no idea what they could do, and if I could report them then I could enter the Lottery, or maybe find out how they were making a time machine, and maybe make one of my own and, maybe, stop what they did to her from ever happening.

"Where is Kai Avinci buried?”

So she was a friend of his, and if I could still remember how to read minds then I could find out how to save Rachel.

"Buried? He's still alive, unfortunately. He's got no chance of surviving the trial though."

She regarded me with a softer gaze and I suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of my head. I found myself relieving the memories that had only happened five minutes ago. Then, further back, when I had recieved the news that Rachel had been–

No, no! She was definitely not seeing that, it was private. 

"You—you loved her—and—that 's illegal—what they did—that was horrible, and—you—you want to build a time machine?"

She was staring at me with a mixture of surprise and horror.

"Nthanda, I'm Haajarah, and, um, do you want to help us build a time machine?"

I have absolutely no idea why or how I thought that it was a good idea to say yes, but I did. Haajarah smiled at me and started to apologise. I cut her off, I had always wondered what building one would be like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do de dodedo please ignore my awful characterization.


End file.
